The Caunton Training Academy has been delivering apprenticeships in fabrication and welding for almost 20 years. Throughout this period the company has been extremely fortunate that there has been a very high standard in skills and work ethic by those being trained there. As a recognition of this high standard, the company introduce the 'Apprentice of the Year' award. Each year, one of the apprentices across all years is judged to be particularly meritorious and is awarded the title of Apprentice of the Year. This year, the successful apprentice is Matthew Poxon.

Commenting on Matthew, the in-house teaching staff at the Caunton Training Academy said: "Matthew was voted the apprentice of the year because he has consistently shown a positive attitude and an excellent work ethic throughout his time with the company. He has excelled with both his practical and his college work, which clearly shows his ambition to succeed and hopefully progress within the business. He stood out in what is a very high standard intake of apprentices."

Matthew was asked to describe his own experience at Caunton: “One of the main reasons that I decided to seek an apprenticeship at Caunton Engineering was there fantastic in-house academy and training program. This has helped me to develop my skills in the industry and has given me the opportunity to understand the fabrication process from how the drawings are made, to how the site erecting team fits the components together. I feel that the training and education will allow me develop my skills further and move forward within the business.”

Successful apprentices at Caunton Engineering have the opportunity, by means of an individual development plan, to spend time in various departments across the business, giving them an opportunity to gain a broader knowledge of the business prior to joining a full fabrication team, or moving on to developing more desk-based skills such as with the technical, estimating or commercial teams.

It should be noted that in addition to the award, the successful apprentice of the year is reimbursed the cost of their tools – a tool box containing the requisite fabrication tools is given to every apprentice at Caunton.